cheap laptop?

phrakture · 2005-02-18 20:51:52

So I'm looking for somewhere to get a cheap laptop - it doesn't need to be uberly fast. Ideally I'd want one of those places that sells them "OS Free" or with linux...
My current laptop is a "desktop replacement" - meaning kinda heavy... and a 17" screen...
I'm looking for portability now... maybe I'll just buy a 12" powerbook... heh

Any ideas?

stonecrest · 2005-02-18 21:32:17

"Cheap" means different things to different people I recently purchased a Compaq Armada M300 from ebay for a couple hundred bucks.. P3 600, 320mb ram, 12.1" screen, and weighs just 3.3 lbs. I heard it works great for linux too. I always prefer the used laptop route for cheap, but that just might be me. Some computers on there are a real steal, especially if a lot of people are selling the same kind within a short time-frame.

cactus · 2005-02-18 21:35:23

ibm thinkpad x31 that I had for a while was pretty sweet. You could probably get them on ebay these days for a bit cheaper, since they are not the current model. x31 or even an x30..both were nice 12 inchers, that ran linux wonderfully. Just a bit too small for my taste though.

I also got one of those lindows enotes a while back. Image and info. I dind't get mine from gearzoo..they always seem to be sold out..lol...
Anyway, talk about ultra portable! lol. 2.9 lbs of goodness, and you can literally swing the thing around with one hand.
*begins swinging*
It was reasonably priced too. Under $800 USD brand new. I took lindows off of it and put suse on it, if I recall. Ran pretty good. Batterly life was the only downside. About 3hrs. The x31 I had with the extra battery attachment (didn't actually add too much size to it either) and I had about 7hrs of battery life. It was awesome!

phrakture · 2005-02-18 21:52:51

my only issue with the armada is that (I think) it has one of those older screens, which can go sour and you get an odd contrast and half to look at it at an angle to see anything.... I have 2 crappy laptops in the closet with screens like that - been meaning to try and replace them...

the thinkpad x31 is awesome... except that it froogles for about $2000... blegh... though the lindows one looks decent (though IIRC the C3 processor it uses isn't 100% arch compatible....)

cactus · 2005-02-18 22:03:08

phrakture wrote:

though the lindows one looks decent (though IIRC the C3 processor it uses isn't 100% arch compatible....)

right, I think it is only i586 compatible. I havne't tried to get arch running on it, because, like the x31, the screen is a bit too small for me. I suppose I could put it to good use somehow (or try to sell it), but I will likely just get another laptop sometime in the near future...to go with the 2 other ones I don't use.

heh. I am so fickle about laptops, that I have gone through 5 in the last two years. I am still searching for one that doesn't annoy me too much.

HP ze1230 --> Thinkpad X31 --> Enote --> Thinpad T31 --> Powerbook 15" --> ??

heh..my girlfriend is lucky, she gets to try out all the ones I get tired off, and gets her pick of the one she likes most. Currently, she is in love with the powerbook.
My search continues...

phrakture · 2005-02-18 22:05:11

I got a hp zd7410 (I think) at home... it's great... but like I said, not real portable...

I think I may save some cash for the next month or so and splurge on a powerbook...

poetofnumbers · 2005-02-18 22:51:43

EmperorLinux sells laptops with linux pre-installed. I think their prices are higher than most, but don't seem outrageous. You can always just go on their website and see which laptops they use, buy the same laptop at a different place, and install linux on it yourself. Still it is nice to support retailers who sell pcs with linux pre-installed/no os.

cactus · 2005-02-18 22:54:55

poetofnumbers wrote:

EmperorLinux sells laptops with linux pre-installed. I think their prices are higher than most, but don't seem outrageous. You can always just go on their website and see which laptops they use, buy the same laptop at a different place, and install linux on it yourself. Still it is nice to support retailers who sell pcs with linux pre-installed/no os.

Indeed. I was actually considering purchasing my next laptop from them. They are a bit pricey though..

dp · 2005-02-19 01:11:26

i want to enlist myself to this list of you --- i search also a portable laptop - and yes, the x31 or x40 looks really cool, but it is a little bit expensive

what i had in mind is: is there any way to buy a x31 without a preinstalled windows? this way it would be cheaper, because the licence to windows is not included, right? and a windows xp costs ~200$ so it would be 200$ cheaper, right?

i had a armada 1750 but it's mainboard died and since then i have a a31p

what do you think about the nw8000 ?

cactus · 2005-02-19 01:29:55

i want to enlist myself to this list of you

?? wha

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm … 64189.html

Haven't actually heard of someone getting one and using it, so I have nothing to base impirical evidence on. It seems to be decent enough from the specs..

15" monitor though, I prefer 14.1 myself.

the nx5000 is the linux one.
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm … 95654.html
I have also not heard anything from someone actually using this either.
Again, I prefer 14.1 inch monitors...but, If someone had one and told me it kicked ass, I might go for it..It comes with suse 9.1, and reasonably configured with suse it comes to about 2000USD. In the same ballpark as the ibm T series, which I know is a very good line. I would be very interested to hear from someone who had/has this model laptop..

mr_ed · 2005-10-04 17:14:25

Another place to try is http://www.sub300.com/ or http://www.sub500.com

The funny thing is that the Canadian site (sub500) has a laptop for $799 (Canadian), and the cheapest on the American site is $1003. :?

Cotton · 2005-10-04 20:40:35

http://cgi.ebay.com/Laptop-Compaq-EVO-N … dZViewItem

mmmmm........

mr_ed · 2005-10-05 21:14:41

DANG!

My laptop (Omnibook 6000) is listed there for $50 (with 1 day left, mind you). I paid something like $700 (2 years ago). Talk about depreciation.

sudman1 · 2005-10-06 15:11:53

http://www.unitedmicro.com sells laptops w/o the OS and allows for customization and is quite reasonable. I've ordered a laptop from them 3 weeks ago, but as I live overseas, I'm still waiting for delivery. I'll let you know what I think about it, once it gets in.

Blaasvis · 2005-10-06 17:58:50

i got a old ibook g3 600 12" small light fast battery time over 6 hours or so ... so why a powerbook ?

pantyhacker · 2005-11-04 06:44:30

i found a sony sr7k on ebay for 300, its the smallest, lightest notebook i've ever used, under 3 pounds, less than an inch thick at the thickest point, 10.6" svga screen, 128mb, 20gb hard drive, and a p3 600, all in all it runs kde 3.4.3 VERY nicely. and i use it at school all the time.

my only beef, is that i can't seem to get an powersaving functions working. i have acpi compiled into the kernel, and i can't suspend or standby

neri · 2005-11-04 07:54:44

I like this one, I bought it if I neded a new Lappie:
http://www.msicomputer.com/NB/product_s … model=S260

It has an alloy case and comes at a reasonable price I think.

-neri

phrakture · 2005-11-04 23:49:04

neri wrote:

I like this one, I bought it if I neded a new Lappie:
http://www.msicomputer.com/NB/product_s … model=S260
It has an alloy case and comes at a reasonable price I think.
-neri

Woah, good find - looks like it's around $700-$800 USD, which seems great. Need to look more into the full specs of it.

hackmeister · 2005-12-14 13:51:01

I picked up the Balance CN7401 from Walmart for $548:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. … id=3321515

I installed Arch without any major issues. The wifi card works well under wlan_ng using the prism2_usb module. I'm planning on picking up a 1 gig of ram after the holidays. That shoud kick up the speed quite a bit even though it's pretty responsive with Arch and KDE 3.5.

I also bought the IC Power machine:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. … id=4025846

The wifi did not work under linux so I returned it for a full refund.

sud_crow · 2005-12-15 03:14:45

Hi, im also planning on acquiring a laptop... although what you call cheap doesnt even exist on this latitudes... we get a Dell Inspiron 1300 (Celeron M 1.3Ghz 256mb and 40Gbs w/o Wifi) for around 1000 US Dollars. And any HP <insert worst model> is above 1200 US Dollars.

So i was wondering:

sudman1 wrote:

http://www.unitedmicro.com sells laptops w/o the OS and allows for customization and is quite reasonable. I've ordered a laptop from them 3 weeks ago, but as I live overseas, I'm still waiting for delivery. I'll let you know what I think about it, once it gets in.

Do they ship worldwide? (I live in Argentina, usually, if they ship overseas they ship here too).

Also, about the iBook G3 600, Ive seen some used ones, for about 600/700 dollars... do they worth them? i mean, im not quite sure about the performance against a PC, as i never used a Mac.

lydgate · 2006-01-14 00:39:02

I bought a refurb emachines laptop from tigerdirect this summer for $800. It's Athlon XP-M 3000+, 448MB RAM / 64 MB shared video RAM (ATI IGP 320M, not easy to get 3d working in linux at least for me, but I don't need it). 60 GB harddrive. 15.4" screen. Definitely not super portable but it runs arch like a dream. I don't see the one I bought on the site anymore but there's this one:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications … CatId=1900

which has slightly better specs at the same price. Not portable, but the fastest computer I own . . .

jakob · 2006-01-22 22:16:19

hehe, since this thread has been revived anyway I wanted to ask phrakture: for which laptop did you finally decide?

I'm also wanting a laptop so much but i simply don't have the money... gotta wait until i finished with school or find some job to do while finishing it... but i almost decided for an IBM thinkpad T30 (1,8Ghz... 14", almost too big...)

Arch Linux

#1 2005-02-18 20:51:52

cheap laptop?

#2 2005-02-18 21:32:17

Re: cheap laptop?

#3 2005-02-18 21:35:23

Re: cheap laptop?

#4 2005-02-18 21:52:51

Re: cheap laptop?

#5 2005-02-18 22:03:08

Re: cheap laptop?

#6 2005-02-18 22:05:11

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#7 2005-02-18 22:51:43

Re: cheap laptop?

#8 2005-02-18 22:54:55

Re: cheap laptop?

#9 2005-02-19 01:11:26

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#10 2005-02-19 01:29:55

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#11 2005-10-04 17:14:25

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#12 2005-10-04 20:40:35

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#13 2005-10-05 21:14:41

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#14 2005-10-06 15:11:53

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#15 2005-10-06 17:58:50

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#16 2005-11-04 06:44:30

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#17 2005-11-04 07:54:44

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#18 2005-11-04 23:49:04

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#19 2005-12-14 13:51:01

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#20 2005-12-15 03:14:45

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#21 2006-01-14 00:39:02

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#22 2006-01-22 22:16:19

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